NVG Equipment Gallery

[Gato]

Originally Posted by kaiu

To be fair, at least the rhino I have, it's gonna need ALOT of force to make it flip.

The only wobble is also in the J-Arm, hence why people prefer to upgrade to the dovetail mounts, which has almost no wobble at all, and is very stable. (Although the price difference is retardedly huge)

Overall though the Wilcox mounts are nicer for sure. Slightly lower profile too, or if you get the Norotos INVG, super low profile... One day maybe...

There are many solutions to the J-Arm wobble. I personally use the boot band method I was taught.

[Qlong]

The J-Arm shoe is designed to wobble in Rhino mount to absorb impact. But older shoes wobble regardless, its extremely annoying. lol

[ThunderCactus]

The rhino itself sucks. I wouldn't run it if mine didn't have the vertical adjust
The J-arm design is also completely retarded, but it's designed to break off when you inevitably run into a door frame with your NVD lifted a foot above your helmet.
ALSO, my ops-core helmet has an improperly cast mount, so my rhino wobbles in place (so does the adapter plate the helmet comes with), so opscore sent me a foam pad to stop the wobble -_-
GOOD THING I BOUGHT A BRAND NAME HELMET SO I WOULDN'T HAVE ANY FUCKING MOUNT WOBBLE.

Anyway, got my rhino from the UK, british issue
I think I'll switch to the wilcox G25 down the road for dovetail and lower profile. Seems weird though having the whole system support by two little metal bars.
Has anyone ever tried the INVG?

[kullwarrior]

INVG is supposedly the best mount for Monocular while the Wilcox L4 G24 and Norotos AKA2 are prefer for binocular setup.

I haven't heard/ seen anyone in Canada that runs the INVG so I couldn't tell you.

The pricetag for INVG is less to be desired. (INVG, universal shroud, dual dove tail are ~$850 in the states)

If you want a cheaper but significant improvement, look for Wilcox G11 (it is standard issue in some US unit) I got mine ~$300 shipped. It's non-breakaway uses standard GI bracket mount spec and still uses the GI J-arm. The wobble in the shoe can be completely elimenated with their unique design. You can also lock down the eye relief adjustment to further reduce wobble.
I'm really happy with the G11, as the next tier upgrade involved large dovetail transfer arm and mount itself would've cost $450 or more (making it overall $600 upgrade before shroud)

[Cobrajr122]

Viperfish runs an INVG mount.

I like my L4 G24.

[Conker]

Or buy my Wilcox L2G05 I have for sale and get the dovetail adapter? Just sayin' :P

[terrorist one]

Ok, dont know if this is the right thread to to ask. I did not want to start a new thread. I am looking into getting Helmet mounted NVG but really dont know where to start or look. I am on a budget and can't afford to spend 2k + on a set.

Anyone interested in pointing me in the right directions?

thanks

[Azathoth]

Originally Posted by terrorist one

Ok, dont know if this is the right thread to to ask. I did not want to start a new thread. I am looking into getting Helmet mounted NVG but really dont know where to start or look. I am on a budget and can't afford to spend 2k + on a set.

Anyone interested in pointing me in the right directions?

thanks

Their isn't one thread website that will point you down the right direction. Long story short IMO don't bother you need another 2k for your nvg and mounting solutions OR you can suffer skullcrusher.

As Thundercactus already mentioned for his NVG setup he has 800-1000 in JUST the mounting hardware.

I run a 2011/2012 manufacture ops-core base jump helmet, USGI Rhino and J-arm, and a Larue LT133 to mount my NVG to rifle when i want to do that. Those items alone will set you back 400-600 depending on where you source them don't even mention the NOD

EDIT
I lied I forgot about this, go buy this DVD or get a subscription .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdqAwpdYDBQ

TNVC Video channel will probably give you a NVG 101
https://www.youtube.com/user/TNVCINC

[terrorist one]

"suffer skullcrusher. "

Essentially you are saying its not worth it unless you go big and quality. What do you mean by skull crusher? I am guessing, but do you mean a potential for injury if the NVG attached directly to your face, fall and injure your self severely?

such as this set: Armasight Spark NVG Gen CORE Night Vision Goggles with the head mouth. Or are you talking about a eye sight related injury?

[terrorist one]

I was thinking of a similar set up, mounted on my base jump helmet. Mono or bono style.

For the mount, i understand the need to have a quality mount and such, the issue i have is with the price of the actual NVG's them self. I have noticed some for under 1k, and with mount that would run me around 1.6k maybe 2k, which would be fine.

I guess i am curious to see if the NVG under 1k will still do a decent job at what they are for, or if they are simply not worth the money.

[Cobrajr122]

Originally Posted by terrorist one

Essentially you are saying its not worth it unless you go big and quality.

Yep, that is pretty much what is going on here.

The skull crusher is as you found, a helmet replacement/BDSM device. It is bad news.

[ThunderCactus]

fake opscore is $90
NOTE: there have been issues with the shroud on some of them, some have required time consuming modification to make it work

rhino mount an J-arm are $200, but both are ITAR restricted so you need to find them second hand or "know a guy". If shipping from the UK, use royal mail since it transfers to canadapost and doesn't go through the US.
NOTE: DO NOT cheap out on the rhino mount and J-arm, the rhino is bungee'd to your helmet, but if a shitty chinese mount or plastic J-arm snap, that's your $500-$3000 NVD falling 5-6ft onto concrete.

As for the NVD, I've used yukon gen1 for a few years (which is one of THE BEST gen1 manufacturers), and recently switched to gen2-HP (high end gen2). I've looked through many cheap gen1 units, high end gen3s, and a low gen2 (~$1200) NVD. So I know what I'm talking about here.
There's a major performance gap between a $500 yukon and a $2200 night optics D300-HP, and in MY opinion, it's not worth buying anything in between.

Yukon Gen1 advantages are;
-same resolution as low-mid range gen2 at 38lp/mm
-incredible clarity due to there being no noise in the tube
(noise is the static in the tube image)
-near perfect quality tubes, no dead spots or blemishes
-very affordable at $300-$500 (yukon NVMT and NVMT riflescope)
-very low backsplash, because the gain is very low, there isn't a lot of light emitted out the viewing end of the tube, so it doesn't light up the area around your eye like a gen3 tube does.

Disadvantages:
-fish bowling. There's a 15deg cone in the middle that good, and continuing out to the 30deg field of view you get pretty disorienting fish bowling.
-obviously it doesn't have a lot of gain compared to gen2, still better than nothing.
-manual focus; you will constantly be refocusing if you're using it to walk around, about every 5ft out to 25ft you need to refocus to see properly, and every 20ft beyond that. The tube is nice and clear, but the lack of gain makes it very difficult to identify objects that aren't in focus.
-near sightedness; if it's rifle mounted, and you turn the integrated IR illuminator on, and the IR light glares off your RIS or front sight, it will cut your viewing range down to about 10ft. It will naturally focus on whatever is close. I was using mine to spot moose on a road trip, and couldn't see past the high beams due to the glare off the road, put a pillow on the dash to cut the glare and I could easily see up to 600ft.
-halo; even something as small as a keychain LED will cause some crazy halo in gen1. Most people don't know this, but the halo will reduce your ability to spot anything around it, so you can actually hide very successfully behind a torch or dim light source against someone with gen1, whereas someone would spot you with a naked eye easily. But this doesn't work for autogating and halo resistant NVD's

Specifically where I've found the performance gap is in the low end gen2 tubes, where the noise is just so bad that the extra gain doesn't actually provide an advantage over regular gen1. You can see the terrain better, but you can't necessarily identify targets due to the noise.
We had a guy come out with one of those low end monoculars, and it was his gen2 against my gen1. It was pretty dark so my gen1 was just about useless, but he ended up team killing 2 people.
Focusing is also a bit of an issue with the low end gen2, but I found with the high end gen2, the gain is high enough and the noise is low enough that you can still identify things out of focus. So I set the focus between 80&120ft and it's pretty satisfactory.

As for the idea of actually walking around with gen1, I definitely would not recommend it.
Some people do it, and it works for them, but I couldn't stand it. Between the fish bowling, lack of gain, and constant adjusting of focus, it was easier to just rifle mount it, and then just point it when I figured there was something that needed looking at lol

Now if you've read all that, I should add; There ARE some digitally advanced gen1 units out there in the $400-$1000 range. Reviews say they're "good" but there's no basis on which to trust a review. Most youtube videos of gen1 and subsequent digitally advanced models are often staged. They'll be on particularly bright moonlit nights, or there will be an IR light source somewhere illuminating the area so when they take the camera off the NVD it seems pitch black.
Anyway, I have not tried any of these myself, but I'd advise you to be very wary of them, make sure you check the waterproofing ratings and battery life on them, read reviews on reliability and TUBE LIFE. No need to spend $600 on NVD every 3 years lol

[terrorist one]

Originally Posted by Cobrajr122

Yep, that is pretty much what is going on here.

The skull crusher is as you found, a helmet replacement/BDSM device. It is bad news.

Aside from the obvious disadvantages of having it mounted directly on your head, why is it bad news?

[ThunderCactus]

NVD specific head mounts are never as stable as actual helmets, fake or RS

[Azathoth]

Originally Posted by terrorist one

"suffer skullcrusher. "

Essentially you are saying its not worth it unless you go big and quality. What do you mean by skull crusher? I am guessing, but do you mean a potential for injury if the NVG attached directly to your face, fall and injure your self severely?

such as this set: Armasight Spark NVG Gen CORE Night Vision Goggles with the head mouth. Or are you talking about a eye sight related injury?

I'm talking about this thing that comes standard with any PVS14 from a reputable manufacturer. If you WATCH the TNVC youtube videos they say throw it away. If you WATCH Chapmans pantaeo video he says "throw the fucking thing in the trash". I've seen those units sell for about $150.00 from Canadian NVG retailers. I gave mine away to my brother in law, and without a NOD on them it was unbearably painful to wear just forget about using it with a what amounts to 750ml pop bottle on your head.

Originally Posted by terrorist one

I was thinking of a similar set up, mounted on my base jump helmet. Mono or bono style.

For the mount, i understand the need to have a quality mount and such, the issue i have is with the price of the actual NVG's them self. I have noticed some for under 1k, and with mount that would run me around 1.6k maybe 2k, which would be fine.

I guess i am curious to see if the NVG under 1k will still do a decent job at what they are for, or if they are simply not worth the money.

Thundercactus answered your question here. Their is a WIDE gap between each generation of NVG and even within the same generation

Originally Posted by terrorist one

Aside from the obvious disadvantages of having it mounted directly on your head, why is it bad news?

You should WATCH the TNVC videos I linked earlier as they answer literally all of your questions.

Go read this:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_18/329958_.html

That article will clearly show you in pictures what you are buying


EDIT:
Their are a lot of things to consider when running a NVG. What do you do when large numbers of people on the field is also running a 500-1000 lumen Surefire flashlights like the P2X, P3X series? Bright lights reduce tube life. No auto-gating on early gen NODs means you get to suck it.

What do you when you want to resell the unit? Lower generation NODs have almost no resale value.

The IR illumination from NVGs falls under `bad`or `good`if you want to really get some solid use out of your NODs, owning a quality IR flashlight, is almost a must.

You won`t realize how much of a migraine you will get from staring down the green yellowish image of the tube for 6 hours until you experience it.

If you run the NVG on a rifle how are you going to aim? You will need a proper mil, medical, or scientific grade IR laser to be safe on the field. I have blind spots in my vision from IR Illumination coming from fake DBALS.